having studied religions both on my own and in grad school, I think the mystics of every religion must be on to something since they all say the same thing, but the "official" religions themselves have gotten off track.

Buddhists are atheists, by the way: they don't believe in a creator god.

My father is an atheist. He doesn't believe there's a God or an afterlife or a soul. He thinks we're here on earth for one life and that's it. Believing that, he also believes that we are therefore morally bound to be the best people we can be and live a life of service to others. He served in WWII, then became a physician who devoted himself to the care of children, including spending a fair amount of time up in the mountains of Morocco when the French pulled out and took all the doctors with them, taking care of Berber children. He's instilled in all his children and grand-children the idea that we are here for others not ourselves.

I have a lot more admiration for someone who is good because he believes it is the right thing to do, not because he fears punishment or hopes for reward. To be good only for such reasons seems awfully self-serving to me.

I have a lot more admiration for someone who is good because he believes it is the right thing to do, not because he fears punishment or hopes for reward. To be good only for such reasons seems awfully self-serving to me.

that we should be good because that's the right thing to do and I know many atheists who are much better than many Christians. But as a Christian I personally don't feel that my actions are made out of fear or for seeking an afterlife reward.

It is a personal question so I am not so surprised that few people have responded directly to it. As for me, I've been raised as a Christian (or Roman Catholic) and that is still my religion.Though I've not a blind faith and I disagree with many things in it. I often doubt and question myself about what really is or was and what might be. I am a human after all and tough I may have faith and personal convictions, I dont really know. That's why I am open minded and have respect to any religion and interpretation of our existence and that of the world and dimension we are in.

He didn't live as heroic a life as yours, but he's been a very good, moral, decent, upright man for all his 82 years. And like your father, he's those things not because he thinks it will get him into heaven, but because it's the right thing to do.

And I think Tolkien didn't want to invent a religion for Middle Earth, since he was such a devout Catholic. But he modeled the mythology somewhat on his beloved Norse myths, I think. Except that he had to work the one God in there, so he made the others Valar, and not gods.